Washington Post has just reported in their blog that the Loudon County Republican Party has a halloween montage prominently featuring President Obama with a bloody bullet hole in his forehead.
I won't post the picture, which is entirely sick-making.
Given the inflammatory rhetoric and gun-lovin' n-word hatin' nature of many in Loudon Co. (not all, the county is becoming more mixed race and economically diverse, but I guess most republicans) I shouldn't be surprised. But thinking of Gabby Gifford's ordeal, and the assassination of JFK, this picture makes me physically queasy and very sad. This strikes close to home also; I don't live in Loudon, but not far away.
I'm not sure how one acheives any civil or rational discourse with people who think this is funny. I wouldn't think it was funny if it were a picture of a Republican leader, rather I would be concerned about the mental stability and intent of the person who created the message, and also about those who will see it and might be influenced by it. That it is a sitting President of the United States portrayed in this way fills me with pure outrage.